Transit Inches Forward

When we voted for change in November, we didn’t realize what stupid, long-running political battles we might be able to clear off our books.

One
of the most embarrassing was suddenly resolved for the Milwaukee area,
thanks to one of those much-pilloried earmarks inserted in the recent
government spending bill by Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl and Congressman
Dave Obey.

For nearly 20 years, local officials have been fighting over
how to spend millions of dollars in federal funds for Milwaukee-area
transit, first appropriated back in 1991. Since Milwaukee was one of
the few major metropolitan areas without a commuter transit system
other than city buses, the only question should have been: How quickly
can we spend $289 million to ease freeway traffic and move into the
modern age?

Instead, transit became a hot-button issue for local
anti-government conservatives. That didn’t have to be.

Anyone
who has ridden metropolitan transit systems in major cities such as New
York, Washington, D.C., or Chicago knows that transit can be one of the
great levelers in a democracy. The same transit system that serves
corporate executives and hardcharging yuppies also serves the cooks and
waitresses who feed them and the janitors who clean their buildings at
night.

Because former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist was a
major proponent of light rail, right-wing radio demonized public
transit as some kind of liberal plot. After all, it served poor people,
didn’t it?

Racism played an unspoken role. The most logical
beneficiaries of commuter transit, residents of fast-growing Waukesha
County who work in Downtown Milwaukee, opposed any connection they
thought could give hordes of Milwaukee blacks access to their
community.

Even the change in local leadership to Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Scott Walker did little to
resolve the standoff over how to spend the federal transit funds that
dwindled to $91.5 million over the years. Walker relied on right-wing
talk radio for much of his political support. Barrett, frustrated by
the lack of cooperation from elsewhere, reduced his plans to a
city-only, Downtown trolley loop resembling the system in “Mister
Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Amazingly, that system, as limited as
it is, now will become the centerpiece for any hope of a real commuter
transit system for the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

Instead of losing
$91.5 million in federal transit funds because of years of political
inertia, Barrett will receive 60% of the funds, or $54.9 million, for
his Downtown rail and Walker will receive 40%, or $36.6 million, to purchase new express buses for the Milwaukee County Transit System.

The
dividing of the baby was inserted into the spending bill by Kohl and
Obey at Barrett’s request. The local newspaper was caught flat-footed,
not even learning of the resolution of one of the area’s longest-running
political standoffs until several days after President Barack Obama
signed the bill into law.

The move by Barrett, Kohl and Obey
illustrates why all the political blather out of Washington about
eliminating earmarks is just that: political blather.

You
can’t take politics out of politics. For nearly two decades, the
Milwaukee area had money sitting in Washington that couldn’t be used to
benefit its citizens because local politicians were getting too much
mileage out of opposing each other to reach any agreement on how to
spend it.

It took Democrats controlling both houses of Congress and the
presidency and the use of congressional earmarks to break the paralysis.

A Starting Point

Barrett
can’t create regional commuter transit on his own. But he can start
building a system that ultimately could be linked to an expanded
regional system whenever political leaders outside of Milwaukee wake up
to the benefits for their own citizens.

Meanwhile, Walker has
once again put himself on the short end of federal stimulus money
coming into Milwaukee. Walker, who outraged members of the County Board
by saying he opposed applying for federal stimulus money for his
hardpressed county, now is complaining that a bigger share of the
federal transit money should have gone into buses.

This is the
same Walker who has cut transit routes, raised fares and opposed a
sales tax for transit favored by citizens in a referendum. The result
has been a loss of riders by the Milwaukee County Transit System at the
same time most other transit systems around the country are greatly
increasing ridership because of concerns over gas prices.

With
increased federal funding of rail from Kenosha and Racine to Milwaukee
and between Milwaukee and Madison, the city could be ideally situated
to finally become a hub of a real mass transit system.

Who
knows? Maybe one day residents out in Waukesha will notice all those
commuters speeding by them reading their newspapers and working on
their laptops.
They might even start asking their leaders why they are being left behind.

"Racism played an unspoken role. The most logical beneficiaries of commuter transit, residents of fast-growing Waukesha County who work in Downtown Milwaukee, opposed any connection they thought could give hordes of Milwaukee blacks access to their community."
Again with this absurd assertion. How do you become aware of this supposed racism if it's "unspoken", ESP?

Walker's rep. also opposed the Regional Transit Authority which is supported by almost everyone else including the Metro. Milw. Assoc. of Commerce; his actions cost Milwaukee $10M since Milwaukee's Mayor had offered to split the 91.5M. The new Rapid Transit Bus Routes are currently planned on the backs of real estate owners in Milwaukee County since Walker has opposed supporting transit with a sales tax. This stance will mean that Milwaukee County continues to pay the cost of transit that benefits out of county users. The county board has successfully over ridden the veto of the county executive on the RTA just yesterday. In fact, Walker had both of his vetoes over ridden once again. This is becoming a common occurrence in Milwaukee County even though the veto in most other governments is an uncommon and highly publicized event. Please continue to highlight these transit stories, hopefully we will eventually pull out of the middle ages. Pat Jursi

Are we all insane? So, according to Mr. McNally and Patricia's comments, a 30-block loop in downtown for white-collars and tourists is more "egalitarian" than Walker's buses that will serve routes in the inner city, and will be able to be re-routed to where the ridership demands are highest? Are you finally willing to abandon ALL common sense in the name of light-rail?